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March 30, 2012

Apple Products In Over Half Of U.S. Households

by editor

Just as Apple´s newest iPad makes its way into early adopters´ hands, a new survey says that over half of American households own at least one of the company´s products. The poll was conducted over 3 days starting on March 19th, the same day Apple announced it had sold over 3 million new iPads in its first four days of sales.

According to the recently conducted All-America Economic CNBC poll, 55 million homes contain an Apple device and 1-in-10 respondent households said they plan on joining that group within the next year.

The survey also shows that Apple buyers are typically male, college-educated, and younger than 65. Apple product owners also tend to be wealthier, with 77 percent of respondents earning at least $75,000 a year. Those making $30,000 or less were reported as having a 28 percent ownership rate.

These numbers were likely bolstered by the sales and press coverage during the weekend before the poll was conducted. The 3 million iPads sold on that first weekend is on par with sales figures for other Apple product debuts.

The iPhone 4S reportedly sold 4 million units in its first weekend.
According to data collected by the shipping startup company Slice, the majority of these new iPads were the less expensive 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi only models, which retail for $499. Other Slice shipping data showed that Californians bought more iPads than residents of any other state.

This coincides with the CNBC survey data that showed 57 percent of homes in the American West, which includes California, owned an Apple gadget. This compares to 47 to 51 percent rate of ownership for homes in the rest of the country.

Despite robust sales and polling data, some people are bearish on the Apple brand citing observations surrounding sales of the new iPads. Wedge Partners, a 10-year-old research firm based in Denver Colorado, had posted expectations of 56 million to 60 million iPads to be sold in 2012. In a recent letter to clients, Brian Blair, a technology analyst for Wedge Partners, scaled back sales projections for the device.

“Since launch day, we've been able to walk into any Apple store and get one,” Blair wrote. “Online, the orders quickly shot to a 2 to 3-week shipping delay. They are now down to a 1- 2 week delay and our concern is demand may be waning somewhat after 2 weeks. Either way, there seems to be a disconnect between in-store and on-line availability of the new iPad.”

With the majority of other research groups not siding with the Wedge Partners´ unenthusiastic view, Blair´s analysis was made in the context of a soaring Apple stock price and lofty Wall Street expectations.

“We wanted to highlight something we have noticed of late that gives us pause, and forces us to take the sidelines here at nearly $620 per share,” he wrote.

“We´re concerned iPad sales may not be as strong as expectations, and we believe March could disappoint and full year production iPad expectations/forecasts may be pulled down as a result.”